Wednesday, September 5, 2018

An Hour Unspent (Shadows Over England #3) by Roseanna M. White + A GIVEAWAY!



About the Book

Once London’s top thief, Barclay Pearce has turned his back on his life of crime and now uses his skills for a nation at war. But not until he rescues a clockmaker’s daughter from a mugging does he begin to wonder what his future might hold.
Evelina Manning has constantly fought for independence but she certainly never meant for it to inspire her fiancé to end the engagement and enlist in the army. When the intriguing man who saved her returns to the Manning residence to study clockwork repair with her father, she can’t help being interested. But she soon learns that nothing with Barclay Pearce is as simple as it seems.

As 1915 England plunges ever deeper into war, the work of an ingenious clockmaker may give England an unbeatable military edge—and Germany realizes it as well. Evelina’s father soon finds his whole family in danger—and it may just take a reformed thief to steal the time they need to escape it.

 Click here to purchase your copy!

My Review

This is an incredible novel set during WWI in London!

This is a standalone story within a series. There is a core nucleus of characters that are in all three books. Their lives are ongoing and progress as anyone’s life will. Each book has one of these characters as the central figure of the story.

I adore the main characters in this book! We’ve learned a lot about Barclay Pearce in the previous books in this series. But this book focuses on him and his background. We learn more about what formed him as he was growing up. His loyalty to family is fantastic. I also appreciate the fact that he is striving to learn to rely on God.

Evelina Manning’s whole demeanor has been formed by tragic health issues as a child. How her parents reacted in the aftermath has truly affected the whole family and how they interact with each other. I loved seeing how Evelina and her parents grow and work through issues that have been held inside for years.

The plot of this book is very intricately woven. I was caught up in the little mysteries that all tied together into a wonderful story of intrigue.

One of my favorite aspects of the story is the deep look as to what makes a family. Is it simply the blood flowing through people’s veins? Or is it a choice to stick together to face whatever comes up?

I received a complimentary copy of this book through Celebrate Lit and NetGalley. I have chosen to write this review to express my personal opinion.

About the Author

Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award nominated author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary. You can learn more about her and her stories at www.RoseannaMWhite.com.

Guest Post from Roseanna

Last year, as I finished up the writing of An Hour Unspent, my great-grandmother passed away at the age of 103. As I sat at her funeral service and listened to the heartfelt memorial raised up to her by her kids and grandkids, I realized anew that this woman had been a matriarch in the truest sense of the word. She’d taught my family for generations how to love the Lord and each other, how to serve the Lord and each other, and how to trust the Lord and each other. Grandma Seward was, in so many ways, the one who instilled in me my idea of what family really is. 

 That idea—that it’s those knit together by love more than blood, and that faith is the strongest foundation—is what I built my unusual family of thieves upon in the Shadows Over England series. And strange as it is to liken my twenty-something reformed-thief hero to my 103-year-old-grandmother, Barclay Pearce is very much to his family what Maxine Seward was to mine. 

 The founder. The caregiver. The leader. 

 I knew as I began the series that I would write about Barclay in book three, and as I got to know him better throughout the series, I grew so excited to share his story! This is a man who led his family first into and then out of a life a crime, always for the right reasons—so he could provide for the children under his care. All he ever wanted to do was give them what he himself had lost. To show them love. To prove to them that they were worth any sacrifice. 

 It was truly a blessing for me to get to write the story in which Barclay found someone to come alongside him, to appreciate and learn to understand him. To finally share what started him down this path. I loved the idea that only a reformed thief could steal the time another family needed to overcome their own trials. 

 There are many historical items in the book that were such fun to explore—watchmaking of the era, the suffrage movement in England, technological advancements of the war—but at the heart, this isn’t a story about any of those.  

 It’s a story about how far people should go for love. I hope you enjoy Barclay’s story as much as I did!

Blog Stops

The Avid Reader, October 30
The Power of Words, October 30
Back Porch Reads, October 30
Kat’s Corner Books, October 30
Faithfully Bookish, October 31
Genesis 5020, October 31
Fiction Aficionado, November 1
Among the Reads, November 1
The Lit Addict, November 1
Just the Write Escape, November 1
Multifarious, November 2
Godly Book Reviews, November 2
Madeline Clark, November 2
Christian Bookaholic, November 3
Bookworm Mama, November 3
Bigreadersite, November 3
Blogging With Carol , November 4
D’S QUILTS & BOOKS, November 4
Life with the Tribe, November 4
The Becca Files, November 4
Kathleen Denly, November 5
Cordially Barbara, November 5
Simple Harvest Reads, November 5 (Guest Post from Mindy Houng)
All-of-a-kind Mom, November 6
Faery Tales Are Real, November 6
Carpe Diem, November 6
Margaret Kazmierczak, November 7
Blossoms and Blessings , November 7
Maureen’s Musings , November 8
Book by Book, November 8
Just Commonly, November 8
cherylbbookblog, November 9
Have A Wonderful Day , November 9
With a Joyful Noise, November 9
KarenSueHadley , November 10
Tell Tale Book Reviews, November 10
Baker kella, November 10
Bibliophile Reviews, November 10
Inklings and Notions , November 11
Two Points of Interest, November 11
Henry Happens, November 12
Texas Book-aholic, November 12

Giveaway


To celebrate her tour, Roseanna is giving away a grand prize of a signed book, a London mug, and a 48-pack Twinings tea sampler!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter. 


Disclaimer: *Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a copy of this book for free in the hope that I would mention/review it on my blog. I was not required to give a positive review, only my honest opinion - which I've done. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.*
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